Math teacher doubles as disc jockey

ACUSHNET — For Tom Cooney, everyday life is all about connecting with an audience.

Nicholas Walecka

ACUSHNET — For Tom Cooney, everyday life is all about connecting with an audience.

"It's all about making connections," said Mr. Cooney, a 7th grade math teacher at Ford Middle School who doubles as one of the area's top disc jockeys in his free time.

Mr. Cooney said making connections with people is what makes his two jobs, though vastly different in nature, similar. As a teacher, he has to connect with his students on a personal level to get the most out of them. As a DJ, he has to read his audience and play music, particularly hip-hop and R&B, that's going to keep them dancing and having a good time.

As a pre-algebra teacher at Ford, where he's taught for the past three years, Mr. Cooney has used music and the fact that he's a DJ as a way of engaging his students.

"They know I DJ," he said. "It's not a secret. They ask me about music. I ask them what their favorite songs are and what they're listening to."

He added, "They ask what it's like (being a DJ). I think because of that, it sparks their interest a little. It makes me a little more human to them. It lets them know that I'm just a regular guy."

Teaching is something he only recently got into, though he's worked with children for years. Born in Cambridge, Mr. Cooney moved to San Diego when he was nine years old. He didn't return to the area until his college years, attending Bridgewater State University with a major in physical education.

It was in San Diego about 20 years ago that he started to DJ, honing his skills in an area with an already booming music scene.

It was also in San Diego where Mr. Cooney started his work with children, though not in the typical mentor or teacher sense. Sometime around 1994, he took a job as a school bus driver. Though not directly involved with the education of children, it was during those days spent driving kids to and from school that he realized he could make a connection with a younger audience.

"I'd make mixtapes (homemade recordings featuring different artists' songs, similar to a DJ set, as opposed to an entire album from one artist) and play them on the bus," said Mr. Cooney. "They'd respect me because of that, and it'd make things a lot better on the bus. I figured, 'If I can incorporate what I do in my regular life to what they do, I could make a difference.'"

Since then, that's exactly what he's strived to do. Mr. Cooney said that after college at BWS, he took a job at the Fairhaven Recreation Center. He worked at the Rec Center for years before moving back to San Diego for a bit after he got married. Back in San Diego, he went on to work similar jobs at the YMCA and another recreation center.

Eventually, he and his wife moved back to Massachusetts, settling in Mattapoisett. Mr. Cooney said that he tried to get work teaching in the area, but that didn't happen until he got into a one-year program at UMass Dartmouth that specializes in urban education in the math and science fields. From there, he did a year student teaching at Normandin in New Bedford, and eventually was hired at Ford.

Michelle Silvia, the assistant principal at Ford, said Mr. Cooney's brought a different element to the school that the students aren't necessarily accustomed to.

"He's a DJ and a teacher," she said, noting that Mr. Cooney will incorporate music into lessons on occasion, and that the students enjoy it. "It's a great twist that he's able to bring into the classroom. Plus, he's male teacher that's coming into a profession after having some life experience."

As for DJing, Mr. Cooney's been very busy as of late. "Cool Tom Love," as he's also known, can be found playing in and around a lot of Greater New Bedford's night spots. He also does weddings, private parties and fundraisers. He says that DJing is similar to teaching because of the connection it requires with the audience.

"You can't just move on if nobody's ready," he said. "You can't start doing two-step equations if they're still on one-step equations (in math), and the same goes for on the dance floor. It's not just about playing music. It's about reading the crowd and playing the right thing at the right time."